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she was standing in her living room … or was she in the bedroom?” She shrugged. “I can’t remember … anyway …”
    From the way she clucked on another five minutes about the man, Chloe would’ve thought he was a celebrity rather than a criminal or perp . Her mind started wandering about two minutes into the monologue.
    Chloe had already cleared three-fourths of her plate when she looked at Darbie. Her plate looked as full as it had been a moment ago. No wonder she was so skinny. She barely ate anything.
    Chloe was totally exhausted by the time they returned home from Lila’s house. Her clothes were still in the suitcases, but there would be time to tackle that tomorrow. She took stock of her room with the two large windows, spanning the back wall. The closet was a perk she’d not expected, as it was quite large considering the time period of the house. She’d considered putting Beasty’s litter box in the bathroom but decided against it. Darbie wouldn’t want to have to deal with it. Instead, she placed it in the back corner of her bedroom. She put his basket and cushion in the opposite corner. With Beasty settled, she crawled into bed and lay there for a few seconds looking up at the ceiling. After six months of turmoil, she’d finally made the move, despite all of the uncertainty. Her mind went back to the strange conversation she had with Lila about Marsh Interiors. Lila seemed a little off, so it was probably nothing. At any rate, she needed a job, so she would have to make do with what she was offered. A few minutes later, she drifted off into a sound sleep and didn’t awake until morning.
    Unfortunately, the next night didn’t go so well. The nights were always the hardest because she was afraid she would dream about Dan. This time, she’d been asleep for about an hour before she felt the thud that was jarring her like a second heartbeat. At first she thought she was dreaming, but then she opened her eyes and saw the blaring lights. She got up and walked over to the window. Lila’s yard was lit up like Times Square, and there were people all over the place. The thud she was hearing was the bass from the music.
    She went back to bed and buried her ears in her pillow. A minute later, Beasty jumped on her head. She tried to push him off but got tangled in her covers in the process.
    “That’s it!” She threw on her robe and marched down the hall to Darbie’s room. She pounded on the door. “Darbie!”
    No answer. She pounded again.
    “What?” came the groggy response.
    She threw open the door. “Something’s going on at Lila’s house. My room is blinding, and it sounds like a rock band is camped outside my window.”
    Darbie sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, sleep coating her voice. “You’ll get used to it. It’s the Farnsworths. They do this every Friday and Saturday night.”
    “You’re kidding, right? Are Lila and her husband crazy?”
    “Well, yeah. What can I say? You met her.” Darbie yawned. “They’ve been doing this ever since I’ve been here. People used to call the police, but after a while, the police stopped coming. Now we all just put a pillow over our heads to drown out the noise and go back to sleep.”
    Chloe shook her head, unsatisfied with the explanation. “Well, you have connections with the police department. Can’t you do something?”
    Darbie blew out a breath. “I’m a student at Salt Lake Community College—hoping to get into the Academy next spring.”
    “Why didn’t your mother tell my mom about this? How am I supposed to get any rest?”
    Darbie let out an impatient sigh. “It must’ve slipped her mind.”
    “I don’t understand how Lila and her husband can be so inconsiderate of their neighbors.”
    “They don’t see it that way. They walk to the beat of their own drum. Lila and Pete have a background in theatre. They traveled around the world until their money ran out and then came to Salt Lake. Pete went into the jewelry business. Both